Significant progress in the development of novel nonfouling materials has been made for many applications such as biosensors, biomaterials, drug delivery systems, and marine coatings. Among these nonfouling materials are poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) or oligo ethylene glycol (OEG), zwitterionic, glycomimetic, and peptidomimetic polymers. Recently zwitterionic poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) (pSBMA) and poly(carboxybetaine methacrylate) (pCBMA) surfaces have been demonstrated as highly resistant to nonspecific protein adsorption with fibrinogen adsorption levels as low as <0.3 ng/cm2. Further studies demonstrate that these surfaces are also highly resist nonspecific protein adsorption even from undiluted blood plasma and serum and bacterial adhesion/biofilm formation. These studies are based on surface-grafting the zwitterionic monomers from a surface via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). While surface-initiated ATRP is an attractive method for achieving high packing densities and controllable film thicknesses, it is desirable to have a more convenient surface modification method to graft these zwitterionic polymers onto a variety of surfaces with various geometric shapes (e.g., interior of a small-diameter catheter tube) and surface chemistries.
Despite the advances in the development of low fouling polymers and polymer treated surfaces, a need exists for improved polymers that can be readily and effectively used to provide low fouling surfaces. The present invention seeks to fulfill this need and provides further related advantages.